A variety of dry beverage bases are available for use in forming coffee-like beverages which have advantages of lower cost than coffee and a freedom from caffeine which restricts the use of coffee by many people.
A number of these coffee substitutes employ cereal grain processed in various ways to improve the flavor of the final product. The present invention belongs to this class and provides a unique manner of processing cereal grains in an economical way to produce a dry base that may be used in the same manner as coffee and has a pleasant coffee-like flavor.